Klaus Jochem

NSS Labs Tests Leading Web Browsers for Secure End User Experience

On November 1, 2016 NSS Labs published the 2016 Web Browser Security Comparative Test Report. Two tests with the most popular browsers (Google Chrome Version 53.0.2785, Microsoft Edge Version 38.14393.0.0 and Mozilla Firefox Version 48.0.2) had been run to check how effective they deal with socially engineered malware (SEM) and phishing attacks. The results are of interest for end-users because the inbuilt browser features were evaluated in the test.

When it comes to protection against phishing attacks the time needed until a URL is blocked is important. Microsoft Edge is the browser of choice, followed by Firefox and Chrome.

In the second test the protection against Socially Engineered Malware was evaluated. Again, the average time to block the malware is of great importance, and again, Microsoft Edge is the browser of choice, followed by Chrome and Firefox. The average time to block is 0.16 hours for Microsoft Edge, 2.66 hours for Chrome and 3.76 hours for Firefox.